Barbless

[SSKY]

When fishing for fish that I want to release and to live another day I will take some simple needle nose pliers and pinch the barb down to reduce the damage of the fish that i will catch and plan to release to catch in the future. Those fish that I have done so in a confined area have done very well even the ones that got throat hooked the gullet hook slides out and the fish was fine. Why does that occur with the tournaments, If you fish with pinched down barbs for a while you will realize that you will really lose very few fish If you know how to fish. I would think it would be in the best intrest for all tournaments on Cumberland to fish with barbless hooks if the fish are planned to be realesed be that bass ,walleye, striper, or crappie, on the other hand if you plan to catch and eat the fish then the barbed hooks are appropriate

[DJD]

I fished barbless hooks most of my teenage years in Florida fishing for Seatrout on the flats because there were so many and it really didn't matter if they came off.
I could not pinch the barb down in a tourny because that would be what i blamed everytime i lost a fish. I would be way too pissed at myself when that one extra fish i needed spit my hook at the boat and cost me money.
Too many variables in bass tourny's and to me the key is consistancy in my rods, reels, line and of course terminal tackle like hooks sinkers and swivels...the bass controls the other stuff!

[Danny]

Hey SSKY,

You've brought this up before in the past, and man, if I remember right, you were slammmed, and slammed hard!!!

I've, however, been giving it a lot of thought. So far, I have not gone the barbless route, but I am getting more and more in line with your thoughts on this. I mean really, I'm going to let them go anyway, why not cut that barb off. You can bend it down, cut it off, or you can even grind it down.

What is so sad is that the first response, and sorry DJD, I don't really mean to point the finger of indignation at you, says it all... if money is involved, then to heck with the life threat on other living life forms.

I know we all say ... "yeah, but fish are a much lower life form, they don't think, etc...." well look up at the stars on the next really clear night. Tell me that you can honestly say that our Lord decided that with all those suns and planets, this is the only one that has life. Suppose one of those planets has a life form much more advanced than us, the human population. How would we feel if they began to have "Human tournaments?"

All that said, I've not given up fishing, although I've been so seldom it seems I have.

I guess my point is that your suggestion has tremendous merit especially in the realm of respect for all living things. And I have to say, that if it is morally correct to do it at cumberland, then it should be moral to do it at every lake.

Besides all that, just think how much easier it will be to get the hook out of yourself the next time you accidentally set the hook in your hand... LMAO

Great discussion topic, and I look forward to some really thought out discussion points. I hope it doesn't degrade to the one line insults.

Danny

[MsgMills]

I think that would be a great idea, just a hard one for everyone to do in this lifetime.

A table fare fisherman could bend his barb on his hook so that when fishing for crappie. He accidentally catches a small bass under the legal size, the Bass usually swallows the hook on most occasions. So with the barb bent the bass can still live even if gut hooked.

Same thing with Bass, catfish, Red Fish, Crappie Tournaments and so on down the line. With the meaning of catch and release, then why not bend the barb and give the fish another chance at living. If you play the fish good then you get it in, if not the fish gets away....

We all win in this case, the fish lives, not possible gut hooked so that someone else has the chance to catch it on another day. But if by chance the fisherman catches the fish, the hook slides out real easy and no extra harm is done to the fish. So that after the weigh-in is complete the fish is turned loose again.

But I just don't really seeing Tournament guys doing this when they have too much money riding on the fish they catch....One lost fish might be the difference between a new Boat or a big check..... Just how it is and gonna be....

[DJD]

No offense taken it's just a discussion... I just know that's how it is when it comes to money. I'm not in a habit of giving more advantages away than necessary when i'm trying to win some money. You do take a huge jump from barbless hooks to us thinking of being superior and the lesser species idea? Even bringing in the "Lord" weapon? Naw, never thought of putting that kind of spin on it. I was just dealing with the thought of what my simple way of living life and fishing tournaments for fun have to do with this thread and even making a few bucks here and there.
The thought that every bass that's hooked with a barbed hook causes death is false and the mortality rate that gets quoted in discussions like this are usually false as well.
Statistics are just numbers that get thrown around and most of the time someone will throw the stats out that support their point, i think everyone can agree on that. Heck, look at politics and their crooked ways of getting what they want....JMO

[RoadToad]

For catch and release, fishing with barbless hooks makes a lot of sense. In fact, there are a lot of fisheries in the US where they are required. But, and I say this as a non-tourney fisherman, I'd guess that most likely nobody is going to fish barbless hooks in a tourney unless EVERYBODY in the tournament does, and even then people are going to try and sneak 'em in.

[BigPoppy]

there is a solution that worked in Europe, while stationed not far from Grafenwoehr Germany. I was able to get my fishing license for on post and I was able to hook up with a few of the locals who spoke english and they filled me in on some of the most strict fishing regs you ever heard. I will not get into that here though. so here is to the the point or lack of one. Most of the folks over there were required to fish with a barbless hook, so they would take a wet stone and grind off most of the barb down to a dull stud it still allowed for a little more hold with out slicing through as much tissue. It was a pretty fair trade off. the other solution is cut the hook off in the fish when in doubt and if it is a hot lure and the last one you have in the boat well now the choice is cloudy again.


Dennis

[Danny]

Well I will add the one thing I do, that is yet to be mentioned.

I carry wire cutters, try to get longer handled ones for better leverage, and I simply cut the point of the hook off, below the barb, and then can slide it out of the gullet of the fish with very little damage. I am considering the barbless thing for fun fishing because it can require a pretty strong grip on some of the heavier wire hooks. The smaller hooks cut quite easily.

The bad thing is that you have to resharpen the cutters fairly often if you gut hook a lot of fish, and about every 3-4 years they are so rusted up, I end up throwing them away and buying new ones.

I still like the idea of barbless, especially when I have someone in the boat with me, and we have a friendly bet. Maybe while they are looking the other way, I can clip their barbs off, and they can buy the ice cream after the fishing is over?? LMAO

Danny

[apb]

I remove the barbs on the rear hook of all my plugs. Stripers and smallies are head hunters, so the vast majority hit the head anyway. Barbless rear hooks means an easy release for the fish if that treble gets caught lesswhere in the body (of the fish or me!). A friend of mine crimps the barbs on the front hook too. Says as long as you keep pressure on the fish, no problems. Says it often gets a better hook set that way.

Andrew